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New direction, home for Boulder Stove & Flooring

Longtime local business Star Flooring acquires competitor

By Alicia Wallace Camera Business Writer

Posted:
05/12/2013 03:00:00 PM MDT

Gary Kulhanek, left, and manager, Chris Jones, in the flooring area of the store.
Boulder Stove & Flooring, a business with a 21-year history, has moved its operations to Star Flooring, at 5785 Arapahoe Ave, after an ownership change.
(
CLIFF GRASSMICK
)

Boulder Stove & Flooring is under new ownership and a new roof.

Star Flooring, a more than 50-year-old Boulder-based flooring and design shop, recently purchased the Boulder Stove & Flooring and is integrating the local firm's stove and fireplaces products into Star Flooring's operations at 5785 Arapahoe Ave.

Boulder Stove & Flooring's former owner wanted to focus on other business endeavors, said Gary Kulhanek, Star Flooring's owner.

"I now have two of their past employees working here that both know the products; it just seemed to be a good fit," Kulhanek said. "I, personally, did not want to see (the stove and hearth) end of the business close."

Star Flooring is keeping the Boulder Stove name.

The new direction for Boulder Stove came three years after tragedy struck the business.

In 2010, a disgruntled employee fatally shot Sean and Staci Froderman Griffin, the couple who owned the store since 2007, at their 2887 30th St. shop and then killed himself.

Boulder Stove & Flooring reopened later in 2010 after Bret and Sheri Tredway and friend Brian Patnode purchased the home and building supplies retailer from the Griffin's estate.

The transaction was structured in a way so that the proceeds not only were put toward the business' liabilities but also that the amount for the estate -- which benefited the Griffins' daughter -- would be maximized, Suzanne DeLucia, the broker in the transaction told the Camera at the time.

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